Summerfest 2013: Diplo Drops Beats and Names

This Tuesday at 4 in the morning, Diplo was holed up in an LA studio with the rapper Riff Raff. Three hours later, the producer who crafts hits for everyone from M.I.A. to Usher and Justin Bieber, caught a flight to Milwaukee where he performed a rave-worthy set at Summerfest.

ELLE.com caught the producer (whose given name is Wes Pentz) less than an hour before his performance, sitting backstage and still piecing together his setlist on a MacBook Pro.

I see you're still putting your set together?

Yeah. I'm always making music. And plus these kids are cool here, young kids. It's different than playing a festival or in like Las Vegas or something. You can have a little more fun.

Being a Chicagoan, I was a little bit bummed to see the Mad Decent Block Party won't be returning again this year, and instead is traveling to 13 different cities.

Here's the main reason we can't go to Chicago: The police don't like us. Too many young kids come. The city was shutting us down.

How did you decide which acts would join your group Major Lazer at the Block Party?

We wanted to have our crew there first. The main thing was Mad Decent-affiliated people: Flosstradamus, Dillon [Francis]‎, Major Lazer and Riff Raff. That was the main thing to have those guys there. We would subsidize the rest of the people we love: Matt and Kim, everybody from RL Grime to Baauer, Zeds Dead. A lot of the guys who are doing music now are getting more mainstream; we didn't expect that. Dillon [Francis] and Flosstradamus, all that stuff, those guys are getting more mainstream audience-wise.

Is it potentially off-putting to see yourself and artists on your notoriously alternative label being recognized in a mainstream way?

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Well, you can never judge any music by their audience. That's the main reason people in England have a prejudice against someone like Skrillex. You judge people by their music. That's always been first and foremost. When I first signed Riff Raff, people were like hate-mailing me. To me rap music is bigger than who's the coolest rapper, the biggest rapper. It's everything about your personality. Riff Raff, I like that he actually is authentic. All he thinks about is life and rap music. It's crazy.

You've previously said that working with Justin Bieber was one of the more surprisingly positive experiences you've had as a producer.

For me, when I work with even Bieber or Riff Raff, I don't see a difference. It's just another cool moment I have when I collaborate with somebody. I don't really think about "Is this cool?" When I worked with M.I.A., who was like the coolest person back then, she was just a girl I met on the Internet. Or even when I met Azealia Banks on Myspace, I never thought "Oh, she's cool." I just loved what she was doing. So I've always been like that. And I think as a producer that's what you've gotta do. Usher was like "Yo, I want to do something different." And we made a record ["Climax"] that was unique for the times. I appreciate people who are authentic. Someone who just wants to be cool, I can tell when their intentions aren't right.

What do you think artists expect when they hire Diplo?

I don't know what they expect because I've never had a number one [single]. Maybe they expect someone to be honest with them and try to do something unique. Coming to meet a producer [doesn't] guarantee sales.

Who else are you doing production work for these days?

I've done stuff with Katy Perry—some new stuff for her that's really awesome. I'm actually really excited because she's a sick writer. And I want her to owe me a favor later on. Sia: I did something crazy for her. We did a record that's one of my favorite records ever. Chris Brown: We did two songs that are more R&B-ish: one is the title track [off his new album] X. And then some rap. 2 Chainz: I produced his second single, which has Fergie on it. She raps on it.

Are you working on any new Major Lazer material?

We're already wiring some new Major Lazer stuff. We've been in the studio with Pharrell [Williams] for a new album.

Speaking of Major Lazer, the video for "Bubble Butt" is simply epic. And director Eric Wareheim (of "Tim and Eric Show Awesome How, Great Job"), whom you've worked with before on the videos for "Pon De Floor" and "Keep It Goin' Louder", is a true visionary.

Major Lazer, the way we look and our image is very important. Eric's someone I loved creatively. He was just shocking and I knew if we did videos together they would go down in history. "Pon De Floor", Keep It Goin' Louder." Now "Bubble Butt" is next. I knew from when I made the demo [for] I wanted a video for it. And I knew I wanted it to be like "Baby Got Back 2." I wanted it to be like that… but crazier. I gave him some concepts and some images that I loved and he put together the treatment. I always come up with concepts for videos and find people who can understand my vision. I gave him total freedom.

Were you afraid people might find it too extreme?

Because I work in black music, I always make controversy that I really don't need around what I do. It's a stupid thing to even talk about. 'Cause I'm a white guy who works in black music: whether it's dance or reggae or hip-hop. I don't see music that way. But other people do. And I get critics on that. So I always want to keep them at bay. And that video I was afraid was going to get really targeted. For me it was the most craziest video we've made. And then nobody hated on it.

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